10 Amazing Villains Wasted In Terrible Superhero Movies
What is so hard to get right about Doctor bloody Doom, Hollywood?
Supervillains are awesome, I think we can all agree pretty unilaterally on that one. We all have our favorites, and our own reasons for them being our favorites, but regardless of which one is yours, there's just something so stylish about them.
Shame then that Hollywood often just can't get them right. Or even when they do get them right, the rest of the film falls far behind them. Sure some find the balance, but other times it's one or the other. It doesn't make the villain a bad or unadaptable character, by any means, it just means that the adaptation of them failed like the rest of the movie, because a character that is so rife with potential is wasted on shoddy material.
These supervillains either outpaced the rest of the film they were stuck in, or were the worst part about an already abysmal adaptation of a beloved comic book character.
10. Mister Freeze - Batman And Robin
Joel Schumacher's high camp flop Batman And Robin was definitely overhated to a considerable degree when it came out, but that doesn't make the movie some secret masterpiece. The film just flat out doesn't work. Even when the film has a good idea, it fails in the execution. Case in point, Schumacher's genuinely inspired decision to adapt the BTAS version of Victor Fries for the movie.
Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger - a decision most likely made by Warner Bros., to be fair to Schumacher - was the first misstep, though to his credit, he does his best like always. And though the movie nails the haunting imagery of Nora Fries suspended in ice, such an image immediately following Arnold dancing around in a bathrobe and slippers to the Snow Miser song just doesn't work.
Mister Freeze, especially the one made popular by Batman: The Animated Series, is an awesome idea for a comic book movie villain. Maybe when WB finally stops wanting to reboot their movies over and over every 2 years we'll see a proper adaptation of him.